Omid Abtahi Joins ‘American Gods’

Omid Abtahi (Argo) has been cast in American Gods, Starz’s upcoming straight-to-series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel, which is filming in Toronto. Abtahi will be recurring in Season 1 with an option to become a regular in Season 2. He will play the role of Salim, a sweet, sad, and put-upon foreigner who is one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers.

The series chronicles a war that is brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), a conman who in reality is one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.